Inside the mind of a ticketing officer

AOL Autos

Most of us have been stopped by a police officer at some point, usually for a minor infraction like speeding or an expired registration. And of course, all of us have seen movie and TV depictions of the cop who is stoic but unfailingly polite as he hands out a $200 ticket.

But anyone who follows the news knows that such stops can sometimes be fraught with peril for the police officer or state trooper — because they never know when a seemingly routine traffic stop could lead to trouble, or even violence.

So we talked to one retired state trooper to get a better sense of what actually happens at a traffic stop from the cop's point of view — "the anatomy of a traffic stop," if you will.